Tremors in Delhi as quake strikes Afghanistan

A moderate earthquake hit Afghanistan on Wednesday and was felt as far away as New Delhi, the latest in a string of tremors to shake Asia in the past week.

The 5.7 magnitude quake was 40 miles deep with an epicentre 16 miles northwest of Jalalabad, Afghanistan, the US Geological Survey said on its website.

There were no immediate reports of damage or casualties.

Wednesday's tremor was also felt in Pakistan's capital, Islamabad.

Buildings swayed in New Delhi and people ran into the street in Kashmir, where an earthquake killed about 75,000 people in 2005, most on the Pakistan side.

Tremors shook Srinagar and adjoining areas but there was no report of any casualty, officials said.

The tremors were felt around 3pm, prompting people to rush outside buildings for safety.

However, there was no immediate report of any casualty or damage reported from anywhere, police said.

"We are collecting the details of the earthquake," a spokesman of the Met office said.

Afghanistan is frequently hit by earthquakes, especially in the Hindu Kush mountain range, which lies near the juncture of the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates.

In June 2012, two quakes in the area triggered landslides that killed at least 75 villagers.

Wednesday's tremors came a week after a powerful 7.8-magnitude earthquake centred in Iran affected thousands of people in remote southeastern Pakistan and killed 41 people.

Pakistan was hit by a 7.6-magnitude earthquake on October 8, 2005, that killed more than 73,000 people and left about 3.5 million homeless, mainly in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir and parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.